LOS ANGELES - Civil rights groups that are part of the landmark Williams v. State of California education case announced that they have established a statewide toll-free hotline (1-877-53-CAL-ED or 1-877-532-2533) for parents, teachers, and students whose schools have failed to offer the bare minimum conditions for successful learning, conditions ranging from a lack of textbooks, to untrained teachers, to filthy, run-down buildings.

"When we filed this lawsuit and the parents, students, and teachers of California heard that someone was listening to their complaints, we were overwhelmed with calls," said Peter Eliasberg, staff attorney at the ACLU of Southern California. "This hotline is a response to a real need to be heard. There's a sense of frustration and pent-up anger about the condition of schools in less privileged communities in this state."

Hector Villagra, staff attorney at the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF) said that until this lawsuit was filed, pleas for change from parents, students, and teachers had fallen on deaf ears.

"Families and teachers in all communities -- including immigrant and economically struggling communities -- understand the fundamental importance of educational opportunity to their future economic mobility and success," said Villagra. "They're tired of being ignored and this case and hotline are trying to address their needs."

Estrellita Castille, an Inglewood resident and parent of one of the plaintiffs in the case, said that she brought her concerns to the school's attention, but they were either minimized or ignored.

"This year, one of my son's substitute teachers fell asleep in class and left the children unsupervised," said Castille. "This is what's passing for instruction in the State of California. I expressed my concern in writing but never heard back, until I sent a letter by certified mail. The school finally called back, but all they had to say was that they received my letter. We should not have to send our letters by certified mail. We should not have to join a lawsuit in order to be heard."

The ad to launch the hotline will run in 25 newspapers throughout the state. The campaign is the first bilingual, statewide, urban and rural public education campaign seeking to elicit the truth from parents, teachers, and students about the state of their schools.

LOS ANGELES - The David Bohnett Foundation and the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California today announced the creation of the Bohnett Fellowship at the ACLU of Southern California, a staff attorney position that will focus on gay and lesbian civil rights litigation. Attorney Martha Matthews, Esq., most recently of the National Youth Law Center, has been chosen to fill the position. The Bohnett Fellow at the ACLU of Southern California is the only dedicated position funded thus far by the David Bohnett Foundation.

"When David and I met and talked," said Ramona Ripston, Executive Director of the ACLU of Southern California, "I knew immediately that he and the ACLU share a common vision. David deeply believes in the possibility of creating a better, more humane world, a world where all loving families are celebrated, where individuals can love one another freely and fully, and where gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender people and their relationships are accorded the same respect and legal rights that other people and their relationships enjoy. That's a vision the ACLU has long been determined to make a reality, and, with the generous support of the Bohnett Foundation, we'll be well equipped to continue that work."

The Bohnett Foundation, endowed with $32 million in 1999 by Internet entrepreneur and GeoCities founder David Bohnett, is guided by Bohnett's founding vision of investing in social change. The Foundation focuses its resources on:

-promoting a better understanding of lesbians and gay men through positive portrayals in the media

-encouraging gun control

-advancing the study of animal language research and supporting the humane treatment of animals, both as companions to humans and in their natural habitats

-supporting community-based social services for gays and lesbians

-developing mass transit and supporting alternatives to fossil fuel-based transportation

-fostering voter registration activities.

"I'm personally committed to doing whatever it takes to realize the dream of freedom, respect, and equality for gay and lesbian people and our families," said Bohnett. "The Bohnett Fellow will arrive at a critical juncture in California's history - as California's gay and lesbian couples and families struggle for equality and basic rights."

"I believe in the power of community," said Bohnett, "and the Bohnett Fellow will occupy a key position in two overlapping communities: the community of civil rights activists in Southern California, and Southern California's gay and lesbian community. Like others who lead these two dynamic groups, she has the potential to change the way we live, to help bring about a better world."

The ACLU of Southern California's commitment to lesbian and gay equality dates to 1966, when the ACLU stood up for the rights of adults to engage in consensual sex. Since that time, the ACLU of Southern California has been a leader in fighting for the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people, waging battles to challenge the military's discriminatory policy, to fight discrimination in the provision of medical care, to overturn anti-gay ordinances in local communities, and to stop discrimination in public groups such as the Boy Scouts.

LOS ANGELES - In an effort to protect individuals' rights to engage in commercial speech, the ACLU, along with the law firm Paul, Hastings, Janofsky & Walker LLP, filed a lawsuit in federal court that challenges a Los Angeles City ordinance that prevents people from putting "FOR SALE" signs in cars parked on public streets. The lawsuit targets Los Angeles Municipal Code Section 80.75 as a violation of the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution and the Liberty of Speech Clause of the California Constitution.

"Los Angeles, a city whose streets are lined with billboards," said Michael Small, Chief Counsel for the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California, "a city where buildings are shaped like chickens and donuts, and where advertisements abound on cars, buildings, buses, trucks, and benches, has chosen to restrict the speech of individuals who seek to sell their vehicles. There is no legitimate reason to single out this particular form of speech for restriction. This ordinance benefits used car dealers and large circulation newspapers, while penalizing ordinary citizens. It's also unfair to people who don't have a private driveway."

Municipal Code Section 80.75 was passed in 1977 and prohibits advertising, including "FOR SALE" signs, in cars parked on public streets. Individuals who display such signs in a car parked on public property are issued fines by the city in the amount of $35.

In September of 1999, Mr. Edward Burkow parked his Volkswagen Jetta on Willoughby Street in Los Angeles. He received a ticket and paid a fine, but contested the penalty on the grounds that the ordinance is unconstitutional. Mr. Burkow's hearing examiner rejected his argument and a Municipal Court judicial officer later affirmed that decision.

"Unlike corporations, who lobby against restrictions on their commercial speech and challenge such restrictions in court," said Peter Eliasberg, staff attorney at the ACLU of Southern California, "Mr. Burkow is an ordinary individual with the ordinary limitations on his resources. But free speech in our country can't be divvied up on the basis of who can afford to defend their speech in court. Commercial speech is a form of speech individuals, as well as corporations, must be able to exercise without arbitrary restrictions."